S.B. No. 542
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to allowing certain counties to cancel certain platted
    1-2  subdivisions if the land has not been developed and is likely to be
    1-3  developed as a colonia.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  (a)  The legislature finds that:
    1-6              (1)  Certain conditions along the border of the United
    1-7  States and Mexico have resulted in a proliferation of substandard
    1-8  housing developments in which the lack of basic infrastructure has
    1-9  caused a serious and unacceptable health and safety risk.
   1-10  Prevention and remediation of these conditions and their results
   1-11  are of vital importance to the health, safety, and welfare of the
   1-12  residents of these areas.
   1-13              (2)  The state has a vital role and an essential public
   1-14  interest in establishing procedures for effective county prevention
   1-15  of substandard housing developments while protecting the legitimate
   1-16  rights of private property ownership.
   1-17        (b)  The purposes of this Act are to:
   1-18              (1)  provide counties with a mechanism to cancel
   1-19  certain subdivisions that are likely to be developed without
   1-20  provision of basic infrastructure;
   1-21              (2)  provide adequate notice to interested parties of
   1-22  public hearings on this issue; and
   1-23              (3)  apply model rules developed under Section 16.343,
   1-24  Water Code, to the affected subdivision when replatted.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  Chapter 232, Local Government Code, is amended by
    2-2  adding Section 232.0085 to read as follows:
    2-3        Sec. 232.0085.  CANCELLATION OF CERTAIN SUBDIVISIONS IF LAND
    2-4  REMAINS UNDEVELOPED.  (a)  This section applies only to real
    2-5  property located:
    2-6              (1)  outside municipalities and the extraterritorial
    2-7  jurisdiction of municipalities, as determined under Chapter 42; and
    2-8              (2)  in an affected county, as defined by Section
    2-9  16.341, Water Code, that has adopted the model rules developed
   2-10  under Section 16.343, Water Code, and is located along an
   2-11  international border.
   2-12        (b)  The commissioners court of a county may cancel, after
   2-13  notice and a hearing as required by this section, a subdivision for
   2-14  which the plat was filed and approved before September 1, 1989, if:
   2-15              (1)  the development of or the making of improvements
   2-16  in the subdivision was not begun before the effective date of this
   2-17  section; and
   2-18              (2)  the commissioners court by resolution has made a
   2-19  finding that the land in question is likely to be developed as a
   2-20  colonia.
   2-21        (c)  The commissioners court must publish notice of a
   2-22  proposal to cancel a subdivision under this section and the time
   2-23  and place of the required hearing in a newspaper of general
   2-24  circulation in the county for at least 21 days immediately before
   2-25  the date a cancellation order is adopted under this section.  The
   2-26  county tax assessor-collector shall, not later than the 14th day
   2-27  before the date of the hearing, deposit with the United States
    3-1  Postal Service a similar notice addressed to each owner of land in
    3-2  the subdivision, as determined by the most recent county tax roll.
    3-3        (d)  At the hearing, the commissioners court shall permit any
    3-4  interested person to be heard.  At the conclusion of the hearing,
    3-5  the court shall adopt an order on whether to cancel the
    3-6  subdivision.  The commissioners court may adopt an order canceling
    3-7  a subdivision if the court determines the cancellation is in the
    3-8  best interest of the public.  The court may not adopt an order
    3-9  canceling a subdivision if:
   3-10              (1)  the cancellation interferes with the established
   3-11  rights of a person who is a nondeveloper owner and owns any part of
   3-12  the subdivision, unless the person agrees to the cancellation; or
   3-13              (2)  the owner of the entire subdivision is able to
   3-14  show that:
   3-15                    (A)  the owner of the subdivision is able to
   3-16  comply with the minimum state standards and model political
   3-17  subdivision rules developed under Section 16.343, Water Code,
   3-18  including any bonding requirements; or
   3-19                    (B)  the land was developed or improved within
   3-20  the period described by Subsection (b).
   3-21        (e)  The commissioners court shall file the cancellation
   3-22  order for recording in the deed records of the county.  After the
   3-23  cancellation order is filed and recorded, the property shall be
   3-24  treated as if it had never been subdivided, and the county chief
   3-25  appraiser shall assess the property accordingly.  Any liens against
   3-26  the property shall remain against the property as it was previously
   3-27  subdivided.
    4-1        (f)  In this section:
    4-2              (1)  "Development" means the making, installing, or
    4-3  constructing of buildings and improvements.
    4-4              (2)  "Improvements" means water supply, treatment, and
    4-5  distribution facilities; wastewater collection and treatment
    4-6  facilities; and other utility facilities.  The term does not
    4-7  include roadway facilities.
    4-8        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    4-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   4-13  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   4-14  passage, and it is so enacted.